Sula E Vanderplank

Sula Vanderplank is Director of Terrestrial Ecosystem Conservation at Pronatura Noroeste, the the regional representation of the Pronatura National System – the oldest and largest conservation non-profit org in Mexico. Sula is an expert in the vegetation of Northwest Mexico. She has a master’s degree in Plant Toxonomy from Claremont Graduate University, and a Doctorate in Plant Ecology with minors in Conservation Biology and Biogeography from the University of California, Riverside. In addition, she is on the Board of the Southern California Botanists, the California Botanical Society, and the “New Generation of Sonoran Desert Researchers” initiative.

Sula has collaborated with the San Diego Zoo, the San Diego Natural History Museum, the Center for Plant Conservation, the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and the Ensenada Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education. Working with scientists and conservations on both sides of the border, she has organized expeditions to islands and remote places on the Baja California Peninsula in order to describe little known ecosystems in the region and collect seeds and propagules of rare plants or those in danger of extinction, as a basis for repopulation and conservation.